Board of Directors 2023-2024

Jo Ann Asparagus, a native of Salisbury, moved to Easton the year she began elementary school. After graduating from high school, she earned a Bachelor of Arts from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Jurist Doctorate from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her legal career began at the Legal Aid Bureau, ultimately becoming the Chief Attorney of the Upper Eastern Shore Office. Later, she worked as an Assistant State’s Attorney, a staff attorney for the Office of the Public Defender and practiced privately for a number of years. On July 12, 1996, she was sworn in as the first Domestic Relations Master on the Eastern Shore serving the four counties of the Second Judicial Circuit (Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot). She was a bona fide circuit rider for many years sitting regularly in Caroline, Kent, and Talbot and for two years in all four counties and eventually was assigned to Caroline County where she was the Family Law Magistrate. Since her retirement in 2022, she has worked part-time with Michelle Moaney, the owner operator of Every Voice Counts and providing representation for abused women. She and her husband, Vernon Murray, live in Wittman and have one adult son.

Leslie Bishop relocated with her husband, to Cambridge, MD from the Washington, DC area in 2015 where for more than 25 years she worked in residential interior design.

In 2017 Leslie started a backpack program to provide supplemental, weekend food for students attending Dorchester County Public Schools. She is the director of MidShore Meals til Monday and is active in her community. She serves on the board of the Cambridge Empowerment Center where she also volunteers in their summer program. Leslie is the mother of two grown sons and the very proud grandmother of two grandsons.

Beth Brewster has worked in the hospitality industry for over 30 years.  In 2005, she founded the Chesapeake Culinary Center, which offers culinary-related programming focused on job training, youth education, and economic development in Caroline County.  Since 2011, she has held the position of Supervisor of Food Services for the Caroline County Public Schools.  A Baltimore native and Washington College graduate, she and her husband live in Denton.

Childlene Brooks is a Talbot County native from the Bay Hundred area. She attended the former Fredrick Douglass Elementary School in St Michaels graduated from St. Michaels High School. She completed a business course at the Baltimore Institute and taken classes at Chesapeake College. After a career at Talbot County Health Department, she joined the staff at Brookletts Place Talbot County Senior Center, where she serves as Senior Center Manager. A tireless volunteer, Childlene has served on numerous boards, including the American Cancer Society at the local, state, and regional levels, Critchlow Adkins Children’s Center, Mid-Shore Pro Bono (now Shore Legal Access), Habitat for Humanity Choptank, Talbot County Branch of the NAACP, and the Bright with Pride Temple No. 1375 of the Improved, Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World. She is currently serves on the boards of CASA of the Mid-Shore; Talbot Hospice Foundation; Frederick Douglass Honor Society; Bay Hundred Community Volunteers; Inc., Tidewater Rotary, and the Mid Shore Pancreatic Cancer Foundation. She is a co-founder of the Family Friends of Asbury & Green Chappel, Inc. which has worked to restore an abandoned and vandalized African American cemetery in Bozman. She is a lifelong member of New St. Johns United Methodist Church, Wittman, and serves on the Missions Outreach Committee.

Mia Cranford is a graduate of the University of Maryland, she has vast experience in marketing, advertising, planning, and networking having previously worked for What’s Up Media and Haven Ministries.  She lives in Grasonville with her husband and three sons.

Jo Anne Crowder a native of the Eastern Shore, is a retired CPA.  Her career was with CBIZ in Easton (originally Beatty, Satchell & Co.) where she served as a director of the firm and the director in charge of the firm’s audit practice.  Jo Anne is currently treasurer and board member of the Patricia H. Hopkins Scholarship Fund, which awards college scholarships to graduating seniors of North Dorchester High School.  She is an active volunteer with the Tred Avon Yacht Club, and a former treasurer, junior sailing committee member, and board member of the club.  Jo Anne resides near Easton with her husband, Glenn, a Talbot County native.  They have one adult daughter.

Robbin Hill moved to Talbot County from her native South Carolina in 1998.  After a long career in the legal world, she was the first support person hired by the Mid-Shore Community Foundation in 2001.  Currently the Senior Program and Scholarship Officer,  she works daily with MSCF’s donor-advised funds, Grants Committee, the Caroline Foundation, and Dorchester County’s George B. Todd Fund.  She and her husband, John, live in Easton.  They have two adult sons and three grandchildren.

Casey Roche moved to Dorchester County from Atlanta in 2017 where she spent several years leading young women as they navigated college. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Western Carolina University. A stand-out NCAA Division I Soccer player for WCU, a named soccer scholarship was established in her honor. Casey has traveled on mission trips with two organizations: Love Does, a human rights and education foundation, to visit their school in Uganda; and, 410 Bridge, a non-profit pursuing healthy community development in poverty-stricken nations, to help with earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. She currently works remotely in Sales for a technology company based in Hoboken, NJ.  Casey is a volunteer soccer coach with Dorchester Parks & Recreation and served as a WGF grant application reader in previous years.  She and her husband reside in the Historic West End District in Cambridge.

Alice Ryan is a Talbot County native who graduated from the Gunston School prior to earning a BS in Business Administration and Economics from Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, Virginia. After completing her education, she worked as a registered representative for E. F. Hutton in Washington DC. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, and The Gunston School. The founder of the Women & Girls Fund, Alice is a perpetual member of the board and serves as chair of the development committee. She is the mother of three children, Matthew, Stephanie, and Allison.

Beth Spurry, a native of Talbot County, is the second longest serving Women & Girls Fund board member having served four three-year terms on the Board between 2008 and 2022, including two as president. In 2024, she returned to serve as president again. Beth is the founder and CEO of Tred Avon Family Wealth, a wealth management, financial planning, and family office business in Easton. Previously, she worked at Wye Financial Group, Mercantile Trust, H.C. Wainwright, and Morgan Stanley. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree from Washington College. Among her many volunteer activities, Beth has served on the boards of For All Seasons, Academy Art Museum, and Mercersburg Academy. She lives in Trappe with her husband, Charles Capute, and has one adult daughter and four adult stepchildren.

Fund Administrator
Meg van den Berg is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Hollins College (now University) and a master’s degree in Organization Development from The American University. As a young professional, she worked as a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill, products liability and antitrust paralegal for a large law firm in Richmond, and as the first mate on a large motor yacht. Since coming to Talbot County in 1981, she has volunteered for numerous of organizations, including Memorial Hospital at Easton (now UMM Shore Regional Health), Talbot Historical Society, and the Waterfowl Festival. She was a founding member of the Women & Girls Fund in 2002, serving on its inaugural board, and since 2004 has held the position of Fund Administrator. She is a member of Talbot County Garden Club and serves as a zone co-chair for Zone VI of The Garden Club of America. She has three grown sons, three grandchildren, and one beloved Border Terrier.